An independent privacy and civil liberties board says the NSAs massive collection of internet data passes constitutional muster and employs reasonable protections designed to ensure that private American communications are not misused.

In a report released Tuesday night, the bipartisan, five-member Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board examined a set of NSA surveillance programs disclosed by leaker Edward Snowden

(from the article):" An independent privacy and civil liberties board says the NSAs massive collection of internet data passes constitutional muster and employs reasonable protections designed to ensure that private American communications are not misused."

Does this include IRS Lerner's missing emails and blackberry conversations ?

The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) is an independent agency within the executive branch of the United States government, established by Congress in 2004 to advise the President and other senior executive branch officials to ensure that concerns with respect to privacy and civil liberties are appropriately considered in the development and implementation of all laws, regulations, and executive branch policies related to terrorism.

BS. The US Constitution was clearly written to strictly limit what the federal government can do. The protections for We the People are expansive, while the limits on government are clearly enumerated. The constitution, for example, says...

4th Amendment: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects[a], against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.[2]”

That seems pretty straightforward to me. Want to collect “metadata” on me? First, find probable cause that I’m guilty of a crime that justifies such data collection and then get a warrant. Otherwise, leave me alone!

Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.